Ah, yes. The Carrasco conundrum.
Sort of like the Indians’ version of “Hello Newman,” only with a better fastball.
The Carlos Carrasco conundrum made its 2014 debut on the mound at Progressive Field on April 5 as the launching pad/punching bag in the Indians’ 7-3 loss to Minnesota. Carrasco is the Indians’ No. 5 starter only because there is no No. 6.
Carrasco is that ultimate baseball pitching tease: big arm, big potential, meager results.
Going back to 2009, in all the major-league games Carrasco has appeared in during his career with the Indians, their record is 17-31. That was before April 5. Counting April 5, it is 17-32.
But you should see him in the bullpen. What a show! Carrasco is nails before they play the national anthem. After the anthem? Not so much. It’s not like he doesn’t have the repertoire, or the arsenal. He does. He does.
Carrasco has the pure stuff, just not the right stuff to be what it seems he should be. What he is is what he is: a conundrum. The Carrasco Conundrum.
The way it works in most Carrasco starts is he does what he does, and then after he’s done doing it, Manager Terry Francona tries to politely explain what went wrong and why the Indians refuse to give up on him. Francona typically mentions how Carrasco has that great arm, capable of unleashing those mid-90s fastballs. Guys like that don’t grow on trees, so guys like that keep getting chances. Sometimes teams wait and wait and wait and the pitcher never totally figures it out.
Carrasco seems to be heading down that road now.
On April 5, Carrasco gave up a home run before many of the fans had even found their seats, much less sat in them. Twins leadoff hitter Brian Dozier walloped Carrasco’s second pitch of the game over the left-field wall, and the Indians were losing, 1-0, faster than you can say, “You should have seen him warming up.”
Carrasco faced 28 batters. After the first 14, the Indians were losing, 5-0. Over the last 14, Carrasco held the Twins hitless and scoreless. But those first 14? Big problem.
Big tease.
“It’s there. We know it’s there,” Francona said of Carrasco’s potential. “There’s a lot to like, but we’ve got to get it out.”
That there might be a Justin Verlander lurking within the Carrasco Conundrum would be a stretch. But there might be an Anibal Sanchez or an A.J. Burnett.
The Indians would take that.
But the clock is ticking. How much longer do you wait? Carrasco is out of minor-league options, so this season is career crunch time for him. He either is or he isn’t worth worrying about keeping beyond this season. Francona, the ultimate player’s manager, is doing his best to keep the faith.
“He needs to work quick,” said Francona, “instead of every pitch being an event.”
Carrasco does have that part of pitching down pat. The pitching-as-spectacle part — and he has served the suspensions to prove it. Twice in his career he has been suspended for intentionally throwing at hitters after giving up a home run.
Over the last three years, Carrasco has almost as many hit batters (seven) as victories (nine). He hit two more batters April 5. One, or perhaps both may have been Carrasco retaliating for Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson buzzing Nick Swisher’s tower, presumably for Swisher’s post-home run pose and Cadillac canter during the home opener.
If so, it’s admirable that Carrasco is protecting his hitters, especially because his own head-hunting episodes have in the past put those very hitters in retaliation jeopardy.
It’s hard to tell with Carrasco. At times he’s a hard pitcher to read, a hard pitcher to hit, but not such a hard pitcher to beat.
He’s the Carrasco Conundrum.
But as the clock continues to tick toward his will-he-or-won’t-he-ever-figure-this-thing-out zero hour, this much should be clear to the pitcher with the big arm but small results: This chance isn’t forever.
Because while Carrasco may be out of minor-league options, the Indians aren’t out of options in the minor leagues. One is Josh Tomlin. Another is Trevor Bauer — speaking of conundrums.
All Bauer did in his 2014 debut at Triple-A Columbus April 4 was pitch six innings, allowing one run on two hits while striking out nine with just two walks.
It’s obviously too early to make any rotation changes yet. But, word to the wise: When a team has its eye on the postseason, it can get late awful early.
Especially for a conundrum.